Flying toys have been associated during the growth of a child for amusement, co-ordination of eyes to hands, emotions and the like for many years. Paper planes, balsa gliders, and other materials such as plastics have been used to construct toys for the purpose of launching into the air as gliders. Various designs for gliders exist in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 2,870,569 (Jan. 27, 1959 to Bergstrand et. al) teaches a hollow model airplane with an elongated fore-and-aft semi-tubular fuselage halves having opposite marginal edges adjoining to form an elongated hollow fuselage and an internal stiffener of relatively more rigid sheet material. U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,155 (Jan. 18, 1977 to Raskin) teaches a toy glider that has rib elements for defining its wing structure completed with an outer covering of light material stretched around and adhered to open corrugations to make the rib wing structure. U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,404 B1 (Apr. 17, 2001 to Liao) teaches a glider toy airplane made from a foldable fuselage with weight blocks (ballast), wing and tail slots, a wing and tail penetrating through said slots, a tail fin fitting into a groove held together with adhesive sheets. U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,528 B1 (Feb. 3, 2004 to Harvey) teaches a flyable plastic airplane that is composed of an upper and lower half, each with a fuselage section, left and right wing sections and left and right horizontal tail sections connected to the fuselage, a motor driven propeller and landing gear on the fuselage, and with no internal support or film covering and no external film for fuselage. U.S. Design Pat. D-260,787 (Sep. 15, 1981 to Tanaka) is a simulative kite with flat wings and a hollow body. U.S. Design Pat. D-469,144S (Jan. 21, 2003 to Greenberg) is an aquatic diving toy with flat wings.
It has been a problem to construct a device that would allow sufficient rigidity for gliding but still maintain enough flexibility and strength for good performance, aerodynamic qualities, and reliability or life expectancy. Low cost prior art designs often lack the ability to maintain flight properties after the initial use or after a small number of uses and lack any resemblance to real gliders, airplanes or winged creatures. Another problem has been the need to readjust the shape after landings. Higher cost gliders/airplanes are constructed using techniques common to the aircraft industry employing internal spars or bracing made from balsa or plastic to form a body with an outer skin consisting of paper, fabric or some type of polymer and are usually fragile in construction. The present invention solves these problems by the use of a simple internal ballast open to the atmosphere and an externally formed flexible fuselage.